COURT - LICENSE SUSPENSION REQUIRED FOR POT POSSESSION

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin judges have no discretion in deciding
whether to suspend the driver's licenses of people convicted of misdemeanor
possession of marijuana, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

"It is a mandatory penalty," the 3rd District Court of Appeals said in
upholding a Barron County judge's ruling and clarifying a 1991 law.

According to court records, Jacob E. Herman, 27, of Rice Lake, was charged
in December 2000 with misdemeanor possession of cocaine and misdemeanor
possession of methamphetamine after he let a police officer search his
apartment on a tip that drugs were in the home.

As part of plea bargain, Herman pleaded no contest to misdemeanor
possession of marijuana and the other charges were dropped, court records
said. Circuit Judge Edward Brunner placed Herman on probation for one year
and suspended his driver's license for six months.

Herman asked Brunner not to take away his driver's license, arguing he was
not driving at the time of the crime and he needed his car because he was
starting a computer business.

Brunner ruled he had no discretion to impose less than a six-month
suspension of Herman's driving privileges, and Herman appealed.

The three-judge appeals court said Tuesday the law at issue was created in
1991 in response to federal legislation requiring states to revoke driver's
licenses for drug offenses or suffer the loss of federal highway funds.

The Legislature did not allow judges any discretion to consider "compelling
circumstances warranting an exception" to a minimum six-month suspension,
the panel said.

The Legislature required suspensions "in all circumstances," the appeals
court said.

On the Net:

Wisconsin Court of Appeals: www.courts.state.wi.us